Kamala suits buyers who want a sea view and a quieter base on the west coast without leaving the central part of Phuket. Condominiums sold for an average of about THB 182,375 per sqm in 2025, the third highest on the island after Bang Tao and Layan, and Kamala accounted for 9.4% of condominium units sold. The costs are distance and terrain: 45 minutes to the airport, and hills on every side.
What it is like to live in Kamala
Kamala is a curved bay with a village on the flat land behind the beach and steep green headlands at each end. The centre is low-rise and local in feel, with small restaurants, a market and a mosque. The northern end has the larger resorts and a beach club. The rocky coast south towards Patong carries a line of large private villas.
Evenings are calm by west-coast standards. The Phuket FantaSea and Carnival Magic theme parks sit on the main road, and Patong's nightlife is over the hill to the south. Daily shopping is adequate. For golf, a wider restaurant choice and larger supermarkets, residents drive north through Surin to Bang Tao.
Property in Kamala and what it costs
Two products define the market: sea-view condominiums on the slopes around the bay, many sold with hotel management or a rental programme, and detached villas on the headlands.
Expect to pay THB 126,000 to 182,000 per sqm for a condominium. The median asking price was about THB 126,000 in June 2026. New projects sit near the top: units on sale averaged about THB 182,375 in 2025. Freehold title is available to foreigners within each building's quota: see the condominium foreign quota.
For villas, the median asking price was about THB 87,000 per sqm of built area, or THB 23.5 million a house. Branded villas reach about THB 162,000, as they do island-wide. Oceanfront houses on the southern headland trade far above that and are priced case by case. All villa purchases are leasehold: read buying a villa in Thailand.
Rental demand in Kamala
Kamala, like Bang Tao, is a beachfront and sea-view location for buyers who want privacy or a rental aimed at foreign guests, and limited land keeps prices high. Much of the condominium stock is designed for holiday letting.
That makes the operating structure the key question. A unit in a hotel-licensed, operator-managed scheme can be let nightly. An ordinary condominium cannot lawfully be let for under 30 days. Read hotel-managed and rental pool schemes and short-term rental rules. Any rental guarantee is the developer's contractual offer: ask for its term and who backs it.
The property
The letting
The running costs
15% is the flat withholding rate on rent paid from Thailand to a non-resident owner. Tax residents pay progressive rates. See rental income and tax.
Net yield
4.8%
After costs and tax, on price plus buying costs.
Gross yield
9.5%
Rent before costs, on the price alone.
Net rent a year
฿731,500
What the rent leaves after every line below.
- Gross rent per yearTHB 6,500 a night at 60% occupancy
- ฿1,423,500
- Management30% of gross rent
- −฿427,050
- Common-area feesTHB 70 per sqm per month on 60.0 sqm
- −฿50,400
- Running costs6% of gross rent
- −฿85,410
- Tax15% of rent after costs
- −฿129,096
- Net rent per year
- ฿731,544
Payback
Net rent repays the outlay in about 21 years, at these figures.
Estimates from your own inputs, not a forecast or a promise of income. Rates, occupancy and costs differ by building and by year. Nightly lets of under 30 days need a hotel licence. See the short-term rental rules.
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Your yield, line by line, by email. An adviser will check it against the rental figures a developer or operator publishes.
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Getting to and around Kamala
From the northern end of the bay, Phuket International Airport is 45 to 50 minutes by car and Phuket Town about 40. Private hospitals are on the Phuket Town side of the island, covered in healthcare. You will need a car, and the hill roads call for a confident driver.
What to watch for in Kamala
Hillside building is the local risk. Ask for the building permit, the engineer's report on slope and retaining structures, and the juristic person's maintenance budget. Title deeds and due diligence covers the document checks.
Then weigh the distance. If you plan to use the home for short trips, the drive matters more than it looks on a map. For the monsoon months, see climate and seasons.
